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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Last week I finished Nathavarr the White, and entered her into ReaperCon's painting contest, where she earned a bronze medal.

In celebration, I got her professionally photographed at the con!

I also learned a lot about what I need to do to get better. Having the judges there after the awards ceremony to chat with was an amazingly beneficial thing, and I am so thankful that Reaper has the con set up that way. And honestly, the artists/judges were amazingly giving with their time and advice the entire con, not just after the contest.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

I don't usually go and do this sort of thing. Just say, "fuck it, I'm going" and then... go. This year? I'm doing it. It's nuts. I really probably shouldn't be, but I've been holding off on going to GenCon for years cause it was never a good time... And I'm done with trying to wait till it's a good time. Instead, I'm going to HAVE a good time!

And as far as GenCon goes, that'll have to keep waiting. Besides, it's gotten so big that I'm not really sure I want to go anymore. I really do prefer the small to medium sized cons.

I'm taking 4 classes, entering 3 things into the painting competition, and bringing a small bag of minis to the melt bin. Expect lots of pictures!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

I don't have a whole lot of progress to show off this week. I'm still slowly plugging away at Nathavarr the White, scale buy scale... Down to one leg, both arms, and the top sides of the wings to finish detailing.

I've been spending a bit of time most evenings hanging out on Google Hangouts with some other folks from the Reaper Forums to keep me motivated.

Warfare Wombat is just about done too. This is the most recent picture, but I've done a little more cleaning up of the red piping and the buttons.

I don't expect to win anything beyond the "You Participated" ribbon, but if I can get some feedback and suggestions on HOW to improve my skill, then, hopefully, all this effort will have been worth it.

Next week this time I'll actually be at ReaperCon! My first time attending, and I can already tell that I don't want it to be my last. Expect lots of pictures!

Monday, October 10, 2016

Two years ago life was kind of shit for me, which interestingly, made it a great time to examine all sorts of things about my life. One of those things I looked at was my assortment of large and impressive minis that I hadn't dared to start because I wasn't good enough to do them justice.

I knew I'd never think I was good enough. So I challenged myself to paint them anyway, and I settled on a challenge to paint 3 dragons in my collection, Ebonwrath, Kaladrax, and Nathavarr from the Dragon's Don't Share 2 set, and I posted about it here.

Well, things took longer than expected, as always, but I did it. Ebonwrath is finished. Kaladrax is finished (though I still need to paint Hyrekia). And now the DDS set is just about finished.

Are they perfect? No, of course not. And there are things I wish I'd done better. Dealing with mold lines for one thing! But I learned a lot doing it. For one thing, painting can be a marathon rather than a sprint, especially when painting bone after bone of Kaladrax's tail, or scale by scale with Nathavarr. I learned that scenic bases can be a lot of work, and a lot of cleanup (see Ebonwrath's swamp base) but the end result can be amazing.

Such a huge mini!

The number one lesson I learned? Not to be afraid of big impressive minis, cause they're going to look big and impressive when they're done anyway!! And if I somehow screw them up, it isn't the end of the world. It isn't even wasted effort since it's guaranteed that I'll have learned something in the process, even if all I learned was "don't do that again."

Saturday, October 8, 2016

THe body was just dusky grey at this point, so I followed mystrategy with the arm and gave the scales a dusky skin/spectral white coat, then washed everything down with Baal Red.

Then I brought the scales back up one at a time. There are a LOT of scales on Nathavarr... and each one got multiple coats.

There was some significant gap when the wings were attached, so I used some green stuff and sculpted some scales to help cover that up. The wing membranes themselves were dusky skin with multiple washes of Baal red. Originally I had painted the fingers of the wings the same white as the scales, but the effect didn't work, making him look more "undead" than I wanted. The whole point of going with the pinkish white was to convey that he isn't frozen solid.

The claws on the other hand went from a dark color to white. They're still in progress, but coming along.

I've also noticed multiple mold lines as I go on, but it's too late to tackle them now. Maybe when I do my second DDS set?

Friday, October 7, 2016

We played a modified version of The Keep, complete with 8 different teleport pads. Stepping on one triggered the pad, sending you to wherever the d8 result indicated.

We added our own scenario to the mix with March of the Frost Giants! 14 of the great beast were spread across the table, each with a bag. When killed the bag could be claimed as treasure, but whether it was actually treasure, or just useless junk wouldn't be determined until the end of the game.

Starting out, Elsa Leapt herself up onto the tower ahead of her, hitting the pad, and disappearing from sight. Blinking away the weird glitter effect, she found herself at the complete other side of the city atop yet another tower. The view was spectacular, but she was just as spectacularly exposed.
The giant nearby was surprised to find a crossbow bolt in it's thigh. Anna's attempt to blast the giant with fire only resulted in a sad little puff of smoke. The giant charged the treasure hunter who'd moved to the big tower to the left, but he bobbed and weaved and avoided getting flattened.

From her lofty perch, she noticed a giant coming her way, as well as a number of bowmen taking aim, so she dropped down off the pad, abandoning the treasure. However an owl came up to investigate. She blew it from the sky with a well placed icy blast.
Meanwhile the giant begins to climb the tower. "I'm Else, not Rapunzel" she mutters to herself. At least the creature would be whisked away once he hit the pad.
Anna succeedes at blasting the giant, and then her Man at Arms rushes in to finish the beast off.
The giant finished climbing the tower and hops up onto the pad, chuckling. It shimmers... and the giant doesn't go anywhere. Elsa sighs, and conjures a wall of ice between them, basically trapping her in the corner of the tower.

Across the way, the necromancer was battling several giants at once. Anna tossed a fire bolt at an exposed thief injuring him. Rathgar grabs the giant's bag, causing a random frost giant to appear on the table!!

Bored, Else gives herself a boost of speed, creating a pair of skates made of ice. Unfortunately she has nowhere to go with them.

Anna leaps Rathgar out of danger. One of the marksmen tags one of the necromancer's thugs.

Not too far away from Elsa's tower, she sees someone climbing a nearby monument. With a shrug she blasts him with a strong wind, sending him sailing to the ground with a splat.
Figuring that Elsa might need some help, Anna leaps one of the treasure hunters up toward the pad, just as it activates. Standing on it is an impressive looking wizard! It was Knabe!
Meanwhile the marksmen have moved into a more advantageous position, and take shots at the necromancer himself. He drops with a bolt sticking out of his back.

The wizard Knabe attacks the treasure hunter, but is bested in the combat. Before he can do anything else, Anna summons every ounce of power she has and roasts him with her Elemental Bolt. The marksmen who took out the necromancer, followed up by taking out the apprentice.
Elsa spied an archer making a run for it, and so blasted him with an ice bolt, but it shattered harmlessly against his armor.

Anna ran for the edge of the board at this point, figuring that she'd go after Elsa later, once she had an idea where she was.